RDA: I passed out before Alvarez fight
RDA: “I was out for like almost three minutes. My coaches were about to call 911 and cancel the fight because I was out on my bed.”
The culture of extreme weight cutting in mixed martial arts is dangerous and irrational. In no other sport to do you bring your body to a state of near collapse prior to competing. And sometimes it is not near collapse is it collapse collapse. The idea in combat sports is to knock the other guy out. If someone suggested a sport where you knock yourself out first, it would be rejected as crazy, but that is exactly what is happening right now with alarming frequency.
Former UFC lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos appeared recently on Ariel Helwani’s The MMA Hour, and revealed that prior to his title loss to Eddie Alvarez he passed out during the weight cut for long minutes.
“I passed out in the bathtub, in the hot tub,” said RDA, as transcribed by Guilherme Cruz for MMA Fighting. “I was out for like almost three minutes. My coaches were about to call 911 and cancel the fight because I was out on my bed, and they put some ice on my chest, and then I woke up and stayed on my bed for one hour.
“We thought about canceling the fight but I’m a fighter, I don’t wanna upset the fans. But thinking back right now, I shouldn’t make that fight because today guys all the time kind of don’t fight because they have weight problems. Khabib, the other day, he didn’t make the fight with Ferguson because he had some issues, but it’s fine. That’s past. Now a new division, a new life.”
Dos Anjos lost the fight in the first to strikes, and then lost the next fight at 155 too. He has since moved up to 170.
“I said man, God makes everything the right time, said dos Anjos. “Maybe if I won that fight, I’d still be killing myself to make 155. Then I lost two in a row and I decided to change, but after the fight I knew.
RDA fights Tarec Saffiedine on June 17, 2017 at UFC Fight Night 111. The bout will be at welterweight.
California State Athletic Commission head Andy Foster has a 10-point plan to address extreme weight cutting that will go before the entire Association of Boxing Commissions at the annual convention this summer.